WebOs RDP Client Connection Problems FAQ

Why can't I connect, or I'm getting "gethostname:" errors, what do I do?

This is usually caused by a problem with the webos name resolution. Its default search domain, doesn't appear to work consistently. Instead of simply entering the hostname like: "mywindowsmachine" try to fully qualify it like "mywindowsmachine.mydomain.com". There are two other things to try. First try connecting using the IPv4 address of the machine. That should be of the form w.x.y.z, for example "192.168.1.100". This number can be discovered on the windows command line by running the "ipconfig" tool, or the details view of the active adapter using the GUI. Detailed instructions are available via google by specifying the version of windows in use and a search string like "determine my computers IP address". If the IP address works but the fully qualified name does not there are two likely causes. First is that the touchpad cached an incorrect response when the network was inaccessible, the second is that there is actually something wrong with the PC's DNS name. The first can be cured by a full reboot of the touchpad (or waiting a few hours for the cache to clear). The second can be validated by running nslookup or dig on another PC connected to the network.

I can't connect using the IP, whats wrong?

If the IP address fails to connect (not a "broken pipe error", that's different) then its likely there is a network problem. The easiest way to verify this, is to use a windows laptop connected to the same wireless network the touchpad is on. If the windows machine cannot connect, then it is likely a network or firewall problem. Check both the firewall on the windows machine, as well as any NAT firewalls. A simple fix may be to forward a NAT firewall port to the destination machine. These kinds of problems go beyond the scope of this FAQ, google or a network administrator are likely resources.

I'm getting "broken pipe" errors.

These are generally caused by protocol negotiation failures, inactivity timeouts, or in extreme cases, network corruption. Generally if you see the windows login screen, the protocol negotiation portions are successful. From that point its possible the windows machine dropped the connection because you took to long to login, or inactivity timer has expired. If you never see the windows login screen, it is probably "network level authentication" or a server that is not configured to "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote desktop" For desktop machines, or servers running remote desktop (rather than terminal services) the options are available under "my computer->properties->remote". W2k8 Terminal servers have similar settings, consult your administrator or the Microsoft guides.

How do I enable RDP on my windows machine?

First verify that your windows version supports RDP. In general the Professional, Ultimate, and Server versions support RDP. Then you can try one of these links XPVista and 7. Its very important that if the option is available, to "allow connections from any version of remote desktop". Windows server is similar unless you are configuring a terminal server, in which case you should consult the manuals, and make sure not to require network level authentication.

How do I make windows 8 work?

First windows 8 support is beta, second make sure you have 0.3.2. Then put a /8 after the connection string, and make sure not to enable sound support with /s. The /8 switch
enables fast path input, which should work on other versions of windows. It also disables the image cache which will slow down the client. The latter should be fixed shortly.